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Commemorative Exercises 

City Hall, New Bedford, Massachusetts 
March 30, 1908 



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Gift 
Publlilter 



SHORT SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING. 

The New Bedford City Hall, the center of the civic life 
of the town and city for seventy years, was erected in 1838-9. 
The funds for its construction were in part a sum received 
from the United States Government at the distribution of 
surplus revenue in 1837, the remainder was provided by the 
city. 

The architects were Russell Warren of Providence and 
Seth H. Ingalls of New Bedford. The contractors and build- 
ers were S. H. Ingalls and W. Ingalls. The Committee of the 
Town Government in charge of construction comprised Hon. 
James Howland, George Howland, Jr., Hon. Joseph Grinnell, 
Zachariah Hillman, George T. Baker, and James B. Congdon. 

The first action on the part of the town was at a meeting 
on April 3, 1837, when the selectmen were authorized to 
purchase a lot on William Street for the purpose of con- 
structing a new Market, and at an adjourned session on the 
17th, it was voted to "appropriate that part of the surplus 
revenue which shall be apportioned to this town, together 
with the sum of $12,000, which is now in the treasury and 
applicable to that purpose, to the purchase of a lot and the 
erection of a Town Hall and Market House on William 
Street." 

The building was constructed of local and Fall River 
granite, and is 100 ft. long by 61 ft. wide ; three stories high. 
At the front of the entrance are two massive fluted Doric 

columns. 

At first all the town and city offices were housed on the 
top floor, the main floor being reserved for a hall, the lower 
floor at first being used for a Market, later occupied by city 
offices. In 1872 the Market was removed from the basement 
floor. In 1854 the Trustees of the Free Public Library de- 



sired to occupy the lower floor for library purposes, but the 
plan to construct the present library building obviated the 
necessit}^ for pressing the matter. 

During the seventy years of its active service as the 
home of the City Government the building has furnished use- 
ful and varied services, the hall proper serving as a forum for 
all varieties of civic and political meetings, and a convenient 
place for holding many social gatherings. The fire which 
occurred on December 11, 1906, terminated the history of the 
building as a City Hall, and almost immediately public senti- 
ment manifested itself in favor of remodelling the building 
for use as a Free Public Library. 



RECORD OF COMMITTEE MEETING. 

New Bedford, March 23, 1908. 

Pursuant to an invitation from Hon. William J. Bullock, 
Mayor of New Bedford, representatives of the City Council, 
the Old Dartmouth Historical Society, and the New Bedford 
Board of Trade met in Room 8, Library Building, to arrange 
for exercises to be held in the City Hall April 30th in com- 
memoration of the passing of the New Bedford City Hall, 
about to be reconstructed for use as a building for the Free 
Public Library. 

There were present all the members of the committee 
selected, as follows: 

Representing the City Council: — Alderman Samuel F. 
Winsper, Councilmen Daniel J. Sullivan and Louis N. Schuler. 

Representing the Old Dartmouth Historical Society: — 
Edmund Wood, Abbott P. Smith, George H. Tripp. 

Representing the New Bedford Board of Trade: — William 
W. Crapo, Herbert E. Cushman, William L. Sayer. 

Alderman Samuel F. Winsper was elected chairman and 
Walter H. B. Remington secretary. 



During a general discussion as to a programme for the 
commemoration meeting, Mr. Sayer suggested that the mayor 
be asked to preside ; that some one, preferably Mr. Crapo, be 
asked to speak of the past of the City Hall ; and that some 
member of the Board of Trustees of the Free Public Library 
be asked to speak of the future of the building. 

On motion of ]\Ir. Smith it was 

Voted, That the commemoration exercises be divided 
into three parts — past, present, and future. 

On motion of Mr. Tripp it was 

Voted, That Mayor William J. Bullock be requested to 
preside at the commemoration exercises. 

On motion of Mr. Cushman it was 

Voted, That William W. Crapo be asked to speak on the 
past of City Hall. 

On motion of Mr. Smith it was 

Voted, That the Board of Trustees of the Free Public 
Library be invited to seats on the platform, and that one 
of their number be requested to speak for the future of the 
building. 

The following sub-committees were appointed: 

On Music: — Messrs. Sullivan and Schuler. 

On Programme: — Messrs. Sayer and Tripp. 

On Finance: — Messrs. Winsper, Sullivan, and Schuler. 

On Seating: — Messrs. Winsper, Sullivan, and Schuler. 

On motion it was 

Voted, That the committee adjourn, subject to the call 
of the chair. 



Adjourned. 

Attest 



W. H. B. REMINGTON, 

Secretary. 



ORDER OF EXERCISES. 

Orchestral Selection — "Memories of Olden Days" 

Address by the Presiding Officer 

Hon. William J. Bullock 

Singing — "xYmerica, " by the Audience 

(Edgar Lord, Director) 



My country, 'tis of thee. 
Sweet land of Liberty, 

Of thee I sing; 
Land where my fathers died. 
Land of the pilgrims' pride, 
From every mountain side 

Let freedom ring. 

My native country, thee, 
Land of the noble free, 

Thy name I love; 
I love thy rocks and rills. 
Thy woods and templed hills. 
My heart with rapture thrills 

Like that above. 

Let music swell the breeze. 
And ring from all the trees 

Sweet Freedom's song; 
Let mortal tongues awake; 
Let all that breathe partake; 
Let rocks their silence break, 

The sound prolong. 

Our father's God, to thee. 
Author of Liberty, 

To thee we sing; 
Long may our land be bright 
With Freedom's holy light; 
Protect us by thy might. 

Great God, our King. 



Address— The City Hall of the Past 

Hon. William W. Crapo 

6 



Address — The Library of the Future 

Rev. Matthew C. Julien 

(Representing the Board of Free Public Library Trustees.) 

Singing — "Auld Lang Syne" by the Audience 



Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
And never brought to mind? 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
And days of auld lang syne. 

For auld lang syne, my dear. 
For auld lang syne; 
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet 
For auld lang syne. 

And here's a hand, my trusty frien'. 
And gie's a hand o' thine; 

We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet. 
For auld lang syne. 

For auld lang syne, my dear. 
For auld lang syne; 
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet 
For auld lang syne. 



COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. 

Chairman — Alderman Samuel F. Winsper. 

Secretary — Walter H. B. Remington. 

Representing the City Council — Alderman Samuel F. Win- 
sper, Councilmen Daniel J. Sullivan, Louis N. Schuler. 

Representing the Old Dartmouth Historical Society — Edmund 
Wood, Abbott P. Smith, George H. Tripp. 

Representing the Board of Trade — Herbert Cushman, Wil- 
liam W. Crapo, William L. Sayer. 

Ushers, from the High School Cadets — Captain Walter E. S. 
Tanner; Lieutenants Frederic T. Browne, Jr., Holden Remington; 
Sergeants George B. Irish, Henry W. Smith, George E. Briggs, Jr., 
Francis F. Jones; Corporals Alfred S. Milliken, Albert C. Sher- 
man, Chauncey M. Butler, Isaac A. Crapo, Frederic W. Apelquist, 
Ellery L. Vogel; Privates Howard I. Wordell, William A. Jenney. 

Sullivan's Orchestra. 



The programme began with an orchestral selection, 
"Memories of Olden Days," following which Mayor Bullock 
delivered his address. 



MAYOR BULLOCK. 

' ' Ladies and gentlemen, ' ' said Mayor Bullock. ' ' We have 
come here tonight to bid farewell to this hall as a public 
meeting place, and to commemorate the services it has ren- 
dered to the community for so many years. 

"For over sixty years has it stood, rendering service 
both to the town and the city, and it seems only fitting that 
we should hold some public service which would close its 
career as a public meeting-place, and to wish it God- speed 
on its new career; and we feel proud that the building is 
still to continue in the service of the city, though in another 
channel. 

"I see by the programme that I am listed to make an 
address ; in this hall in January of this year I delivered my 
inaugural and with that I am satisfied. I can only say that 
I am proud to be called on to preside at this meeting. 

"I will try to recall one or two things in the history of 
the city, and one or two of the present day, and will then 
give over the duty of addressing you to those who are 
better fitted than I. 

"When this city was incorporated in 1847, this hall 
and 102 rods of land were put in by the sub-committee 
selected to appraise the value of the city, as valued at 
$71,500. I also find that it was necessary to raise from 
$70,000 to $80,000 by taxation. That today is but one dollar 
on a thousand of our valuation, which shows what an im- 
portant community we have grown to be since the inaugu- 
ration of the first mayor of New Bedford in this hall. 

"Then the city had about 16,000 inhabitants. Today, 
it is estimated that our population is between 90,000 and 
100,000. 



"At that time, it was necessary to maintain only four 
city departments. Today, we have twenty-four departments, 
and their offices are scattered throughout the centre of the 
city. 

"When the fire of a year ago destroyed the interior of 
this structure, it became necessary either to erect a new 
building or to reconstruct the present edifice. I was aware 
of the history and traditions of the old City Hall ; but it 
seemed to me that the proposed disposition of the building 
was a proper solution, to preserve the exterior, and to hand 
the building down for uninterrupted service for many years 
to come, let us hope. 

"I know that many things have taken place here about 
which it would be possible to talk for hours ; but I do not 
propose so doing, for I know you wish to listen to those who 
have participated in many more of them than I ; and there- 
fore I shall not speak further, except to ask the audience to 
rise while we all sing 'America.' " 



Edgar Lord led the audience in the singing of the 
anthem, following which Mayor Bullock introduced Hon. 
William W. Crapo. 

"I believe that we were particularly fortunate in the 
selection of a speaker for the past at these exercises, and I 
know that every citizen feels an extreme delight that he has 
consented to address you on this occasion. He has addressed 
many meetings in this hall, and I can think of no one better 
qualified to speak for the past, the present, and I hope a 
great deal of the future. Much of his money and his industry 
has been devoted to building up the industries of the city; 
he has represented this district with honor in congress, and 
he has been prominent in the civic life of this city. I desire, 
on behalf of all, to thank him for you for his interest in this 
occasion." 

9 



HON. WILLIAM W. CRAPO. 



Mr. Mayor and Fellow Citizens : 

This occasion revives many memories. When a lad I 
witnessed the erection of this building. I watched the stone 
cutters as they hammered and chiselled the blocks of granite 
that were placed in its walls. I recall the talk on the street 
when the massive granite columns in front of the entrance, 
quarried in Fall River, were brought here drawn by many 
oxen. These columns look smaller now than they did in my 
boyhood. 

In the earlier days of New Bedford the inhabitants 
provided for public use a market place and town hall. With 
the growth of the town and the increase of population these 
facilities became inadequate. Market Square, as it was 
called, in the rear of the old town house and which had its 
entrance on Third Street was not large enough to hold all 
the wagons of the farmers who brought their produce for 
sale. The stalls in the market occupied by Comfort Whiting 
and Bethuel Penniman, Sr., and others were too few in 
number and not convenient for their customers. The town 
hall on election and town meeting days was aften crowded 
to an extent which rendered orderly proceedings difficult. 
Hence there was an agitation for more ample accommo- 
dations. The movement was hastened by the distribution 
from the Treasury of the United States of what was called 
the surplus revenue fund. In this distribution New Bedford 
received $18,250. The town authorized the purchase of a 
lot of land and the construction of a building suitable for a 
market, a town hall and rooms for the town officers. A 
Committee was appointed. The land purchased was bounded 
by William and Market Streets and Sixth and Pleasant 



10 



Streets. Plans were drawn, and contracts made. Russell 
Warren, prominent in his profession, was the architect. 
Seth H. Ingalls, a well known citizen, was the contractor. 
The work was begun in 1838 and completed in 1839. The 
result was this structure, imposing in its architecture, well 
adapted for the uses for which it was intended, substantial 
in character and appearance and honest in its workmanship. 
It has stood the test of seventy years and several generations 
have looked upon it with pride. 

At the outset the feature regarded of great importance 
was the market. This desire of the citizens was evidently 
satisfied as we find in the report of the Selectmen upon the 
completion of the building that the market was not surpassed 
in any city or town in the country. This market consisted of 
ten stalls of exceptionally large size equipped with the best 
appliances in use, each having a separate cellar of easy 
access. The town charged a rental for these stalls, the occu- 
pants paying one dollar a week as rent. 

It may interest you to know the cost of construction 
and how the same was met. The undertaking was certainly 
a large one in a community of about ten thousand population. 

There was expended for the purchase of land and the 
construction of the building $56,000. There was a further 
expenditure of $1100 for fixtures and furniture and the 
still further expenditure of $2100 for paving the area within 
the lines of the street. This latter outlay was not only for the 
neatness of the premises, but also for the better exhibit of 
the vegetables and berries, butter, eggs and poultry brought 
there for sale by the farmers and gardners. In those days 
there were no delivery wagons. People of all classes went to 
the market with their baskets and having made their 
selections carried them home. The total cost of land, build- 
ings, furniture and paving amounted to $59,800. How was 
this met? Our fathers of seventy years ago had no know- 
ledge of the mysteries of modern municipal finance. They 
had not heard of municipal bonds whether issued inside the 
debt limit or outside the debt limit. If an additional school- 
house was required to take care of the overflow from crowded 

11 



schoolhouses by reason of increased number of pupils or if 
a market and town hall were desired for the convenience of 
the citizens they were built and paid for. The cost was not 
made by the creation of a debt to be paid twenty or thirty 
years hence by their children. It is different now. Perhaps 
we are wiser than our fathers were. 

I confess to a sentimental attachment and regard for 
this building. It was here in this building more than sixty 
years ago that I had employment. My name was not upon 
the pay roll and although my duties were not of great im- 
portance they were clearly defined. At that time and for a 
number of years my father held the office of Town Clerk 
and also the office of Town Treasurer and Collector of Taxes. 
His compensation for these two offices was the annual salary 
of $1500 a year out of which it devolved upon him to pay 
for clerk hire and janitor's service. Saturdays and school 
vacation weeks I was in attendance doing the work assigned 
to me. If it became necessary or desirable for the Town 
Clerk and the Town Treasurer to take a day off I was in 
charge of the offices, receiving payment of taxes, filling out 
certificates of intentions of marriage and the like. I had 
the key of the vault and was the custodian of the records 
and documents of the town. This shows the simplicity and 
littleness of sixty years ago in contrast with the present. 

The office of the Town Clerk and Town Treasurer was 
the southeast corner room of the upper floor. The Selectmen 
occupied the room at the southwest corner which afterwards 
became the aldermanic chamber. James B. Congdon was the 
chairman of the board. His associates at the time of the 
construction of the building were J. Peckham West and 
Thomas B. Bush. Mr. Congdon was the cashier of the Mer- 
chants Bank. In those days the banks closed their doors at 
one o'clock and did not re-open in the afternoon. Every 
week day afternoon Mr. Congdon could be found at the 
Selectmen's room engaged in the town's affairs. 

In the history of New Bedford, city or town, their has 
been no man in my opinion who rendered municipal service 
equal to that performed by Mr. Congdon. He was a man of 

12 



tireless industry, thoroughly acquainted with all the details 
of the town's business, devotedly attached to the town and 
its people, and earnest in the promotion of all their moral and 
intellectual and material interests. As chairman of the 
board he was the active force in initiating and carrying for- 
ward public improvements. As is shown in his election and 
re-election year after year without opposition his fellow 
citizens had the fullest confidence in his integrity and sound 
judgment, and great respect for his scholarship and literary 
attainments 

I did but little work for the Selectmen beyond the 
running of errands and occasional carrying out of notices. 
I recall, however, one duty which fell to me. On a table in 
the Selectmen's room stood a pitcher and I had been in- 
structed that whenever the chairman appeared, to take the 
pitcher to the town pump in the rear of the building and 
filling it to return it for the refreshment of the Selectmen 
and those who might call there. 

I trust you will pardon the mention of these trivial in- 
cidents in my boyhood. The recital indicates the failing that 
comes to men when they have reached the reminiscent age. 

I was speaking of Mr. Congdon. Later in life I knew 
him intimately and admired him greatly. On the records of 
New Bedford there can be found no name more worthy of 
honorable mention and grateful remembrance than his. He 
was the foremost advocate and promoter for the construction 
of the library building across the street. At the laying of 
its corner stone, he delivered an able address in which he 
spoke eloquently of the advantages to the community in 
education and literary culture and general knowledge 
through the reading of books. It is a pleasant reflection that 
the library having outgrown its limits finds its new home and 
greater opportunities for future usefulness in this building 
constructed under his guidance, and where during many years 
he faithfully labored in the service of his fellow townsmen. 

The recital of the many important events that have 
taken place within these walls would weary you. In the 
earlier years the town meetings were held here. Some of 

13 



them were calm and deliberate, others excited by vehemence 
and heat of personal debate. Eminent men have stood upon 
this platform — Presidents and ex-Presidents of the United 
States. Distinguished orators and statesmen have spoken 
here upon great questions of public policy. Issues, local, 
state and national, have been presented by earnest advocates 
who have received the enthusiastic and even rapturous ap- 
plause of ardent admirers. There have been notable ban- 
quets held in this hall. In 1840 on the opening and com- 
pletion of the railroad from New Bedford to Taunton there 
was a banquet attended by the Governor of the Common- 
wealth and his staff, distinguished state and national officers 
and men prominent in public and private life. Some years 
later there was a banquet in honor of the merger of the New 
Bedford Railroad with the Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg 
Railroad. In those days railroad mergers were popular and 
their accomplishment was celebrated with festivities. In 
1864 there was a banquet which closed the proceedings 
celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of the old town 
of Dartmouth. One other event I will mention which is re- 
membered by some who are present tonight and doubtless by 
some who participated in it. It was in the dark hours of the 
Civil War. Day after day crowds of men assembled in front 
of the hall, listening to patriotic and fervent appeals for the 
preservation of the Union spoken from the steps. And 
some may remember the little tent pitched at the southeast 
corner of these grounds in which at a table was seated a 
recruiting officer, and these men of New Bedford entered 
and signed the muster roll volunteering to go to the front to 
fight in the national defense. And some may remember too 
how loyal women of New Bedford took possession of the 
Common Council chamber and received there and gathered 
up and packed in boxes the articles they sent to army 
hospitals and to soldiers in the field 

Whoever shall write the history of City Hall will write 
in no small degree the history of New Bedford. 

Mr. Mayor, I am instructed by members of the Board of 
Trade to bring their message to this meeting. That organi- 



14 



zation is composed of men whose purpose is the welfare and 
extension of the industrial interests of the community, the 
stimulation of business enterprise, the encouragement of 
additions to our commerce and trade and manufactures, and 
the advocacy of superior advantages of New Bedford in the 
competitive contest for rank in the business world. These 
men express their satisfaction that the City Hall, having 
passed beyond the uses for which it was designed, is to be 
devoted to the library. They realize that the material pros- 
perity of our city is dependent upon the greater intelligence 
of its people. The world demands that its business men and 
working men shall be educated, and the city does well after 
the mental training and discipline of the schools, to open 
wide the doors for the old and young to the accumulated 
knowledge of the past, and give free and easy access to the 
scientific discoveries and improved methods of recent years. 
In bidding good-bye to the City Hall as it is about to 
enter another field of usefulness there is the consoling 
thought that while it has signally and successfully performed 
the mission for which it was created, it is to have a part in 
a grand and lofty purpose capable of the bestowal of gifts 
of inestimable value. 



15 



REV. MATTHEW 0. JULIEN. 

Mr. Julien, whose subject was "The Library of the Fu- 
ture, ' ' spoke as follows : 

"Your Honor, the Mayor, Ladies and Fellow Citizens: 
I have been asked by the committee to say a few words to- 
night in the name of the trustees on "The Library of the 
Future." The meaning of this occasion is, of course, pri- 
marily reminiscent; and, as was to be expected, when ]Mr. 
Crapo is the speaker, the story of the past has been most 
admirably presented. The day when this building is com- 
pleted and ready for occupancy will be the time for fuller 
consideration of the promises which the future holds forth. 
Yet it is impossible on the present occasion wholly to set 
aside the thought of that which is to follow in the future use 
of this historic building. As a matter of fact we are stand- 
ing tonight between a memory and a vision. Behind us is 
the fast-receding land of past achievements; before us — 
though less definitely — rise, amid luminous mists, the shores 
of future conquest and possession. And yet the two are di- 
rectly connected with each other. Beneath the tossing and 
ever-shifting billows of the jjresent the land of memory 
reaches onward to the land of vision. It is the enlargement 
and quickening of the intellectual and civic life of the people 
which have created the need for greater facilities, which 
has made the demand for the new library imperative. We 
talk of the past, the present and the future. Yet these are 
only mental distinctions. Time is one. The people who lived 
in New Bedford before us built and supported the old li- 
brar.y. We of today hope to enter into the enjoyment of the 
new library. There are other people to come who will have 
whatever we provide for them. In sober fact the distinction 

16 



is not so much one of time as of the relation we hold be- 
tween ourselves and other people. Those of an earlier time 
gave us what we possess today. The real issue is one of 
obligation— what will we give to the other people of this 
city who are to follow us. It is not merely the question of 
a new building for library purposes which is involved. For 
the new building, to have any real meaning, implies a new 
life — a broadening of the aim of the policy of the institution, 
that it may answer the needs of the ever-growing intellec- 
tual life of the city. The need for this advance is clear to 
any user of the library. With a wealth of material and a 
liberal provision for its increase, it has yet been impossible 
to make these treasures of such service to the people as they 
ought to render. The lack of accommodation — and I may 
add — of unconditioned funds for administrative and other 
purposes — makes the very wealth of the other possessions an 
actual embarrassment. Treasures of knowledge and art and 
insufficient means to make them serviceable — or even prop- 
erly to store and arrange them — this has been the problem 
for which at last we may believe the solution is within our 
sight. Not only to the trustees, but to all who have made 
use of the library in the years gone by, this hour is the 
beginning of the fulfilment of the years of dreaming and of 
hope. If at times the doubt arose whether the annual re- 
ports issued by the lioard were ever actually read by any- 
body outside of the printing office, yet these yearly effusions 
have at least offered the opportunity to construct in imag- 
ination and to express in print the library of the future 
which was the ever present dream. Indeed, it has seemed 
to some of us here to be only a dream for so many long 
years, that when the new building shall actually appear be- 
fore us in its completeness, I fear we shall be inclined to 
doubt the evidence of our senses. 

"I should hardly be surprised if there will not be some 
one who will feel like the farmer who made his first visit to 
a circus. He came from back among the hiils where he had 
lived till late in life, knowing town-life only by hearsay. 
As he entered the circus tent the first object that met his 

17 



gaze was a dromedary. Before the strange creature he stood 
for a long time, noting each peculiarity. Even when the 
band was playing and the entertainment in the ring had 
begun, he still stood there gazing at the dromedary — at the 
protruding lower lip, the long legs with the knotted knees 
and the great feet, and at the double hump upon its back. 
Finally he turned away with the emphatic exclamation: 
'Gosh! there ain't no sich animal!' 

"While it is out of place to attempt tonight to present 
with any completeness the uses which a free public library 
in this modern age ought to serve, yet I maj^ briefly indicate 
the more important of these, as an outline of the future 
library to which we are looking forward. The two main 
ends to be sought are : the permanent value of the collection 
itself, since the library abides while the generations pass 
away; and also the practicable serviceableness of this col- 
lection to the people, with the ever-changing needs of a con- 
tinuous present. There was a time when the popular im- 
pression of a library was that it was an institution for the 
benefit mainly of scholars. And this impression still sur- 
vives in many minds. But it is becoming understood, more 
and more, as the years go by, that far beyond any uses 
which it may serve the student of literature, of art, of his- 
tory, or of science, its highest purpose is that it shall be the 
means for the education of the people at large. In a real 
sense it is true to say that the ideal public library will be- 
come the people's university. Far away as may now seem 
to be the possibility of the complete fulfilment of this aim, 
it is along this line, nevertheless, that every important 
change in the history of the modern library movement has 
been and is advancing. The thought is at least dawning upon 
men that the old-time definition of a 'liberal education' has 
been too limited and artificial. 

"I mean no disparagement to college training when I 
say frankly that education is not the exclusive monopoly 
of the schools. In the interest not so much of a greater but 
of a saner New Bedford of the future, our library has an 
important function to perform. It is not merely by supply- 

18 



ing the books that are asked for, that this service is to be 
fulfilled ; but by using such means as experience suggests 
for stimulating the desire for mental equipment, in the pop- 
ular heart. 

"The influence of an intellectual environment, which 
a library, un<ler proper conditions, could supply, is itself 
no small part of its mission. Whatever native genius the 
German people have for music or the Italians for painting 
and sculpture, it can hardly be questioned that the popular 
appreciation of these races has been largely augmented by 
centuries of intimate association with the noblest examples 
of these great arts. The galleries of the old world have not 
only gratified the artistic taste of the people, but they have 
created and developed it. And a like purpose, especially 
in the realm of literature, can a free public library in 
America serve, if adequately equipped and sustained. 

"I look for the time when this library will become, by 
means of its lecture halls and exhibition rooms, as well as 
by its book circulation, the centre of the intellectual life 
of New Bedford. Of course that means more than a build- 
ing. It means able and earnest leadership. And I am glad 
to bear witness tonight that I believe I speak in the name 
of all the trustees that we are confident that in our present 
librarian we have the man not only of the hour, but the man 
for the future. 

"There is demanded also for the fulfilment of the high- 
er aim of a public library that there shall be a genuine and 
enthusiastic civic pride. The promise of this occasion, 
when we are closing the doors of this building as a City 
hall, lies in the fact that they are to be opened again as the 
intellectual home of the people. Though used in a different 
way, it will continue to be in the people's service. It will 
still be a 'city hall.' Its historic associations will be an 
advantage in the accomplishment of the higher ends of a 
public library. A part of its value will come from its 
historic memories and traditions. The direct and vital rela- 
tions which the traditions of a community bear to its 
welfare, morally as well as intellectually, is a fact too 

19 



readily forgotten by many. Whatever destroys or impairs, 
in the popular mind, without just ground, these civic 
memories and the pride they rightly nourish, is an injury to 
be lamented and hard to overcome. Whatever helps to 
perpetuate these traditions from one generation to another, 
and thus develop and strengthen the home pride is a real 
aid to a city's progress. 

"I treasure the belief that the library of the future 
New Bedford Avill be the richer for the influence, unseen 
but real, of the memories which these courses of massive 
stone enshrine. It is well, if, upon these walls tonight, we 
have seen the pictures of the past change into prophecies of 
the fulfilment of the people's dream." 



20 



JUL 3 1908 



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